Here/There

I have a 2001 tacoma 4x4 95,000 extra cab, automatic, 2.7L. Issue when it hits grooves or bumps it throws the vehicle. Mechanics are at a loss. What I have had done: struts and shocks (twice because the first set failed after 4000 miles,why unknown.), rack and pinion, new upper and lower control arms, ball joints, aligned several times, lowered air pressure in tires, new tires. Still throws me. Scared to drive it on icy or snow plowed roads. We also have a 2002 toyota we love 445,000 miles on it, that why we bought this one. After spending close to 5K my husband doesnt want to put more money into it. I have talked to 3 different Mechanics. They dont have a clue. Anyone else got any ideas. This forumn is why I had all the affore mentioned work done. Thank you, R

 

Welcome to TW!

Is this something you can help with, @Taco critter?

 

Maybe you could read my post. The question is there. TY

 

Welcome to TW

 

I replaced the upper and lower control arms. They came with new bushings? So what other bushings?

 

I don't know a lot about 1st Gens, but my friend has a 2002 so that's why I tagged him...

 

Figuring out why might be a good idea. Were they inferior parts (Monroe quick struts?) or a quality (Bilstein)? What failed on them? That's going to give a general indication of what was affecting the shocks.

Have they inspected the body mounts?

Are you the original owner of the truck? Any car fax if not? Might have been in an accident and have a bent frame. Lots of times tech will just do a "toe-in-go" alignment where they aren't adjusting the camber and caster. But I would hope they did when they replaced the control arms. Ya never know though. Even if they did, the thrust angle could be bad (from a bent frame) and cause what you are describing.

 

Can you tell by looking at the bushings?

 

They are monroes. They just bounced alot. No leaking. They redid them no cost. I am 3rd owner. There was a car fax when I bought it. How do I find a bent frame? Attached the alignment.

 

I am assuming sterring rack bushings are included in the Rack and pinion that was done. Its so surprising to me that tge shop who did the control arms wouldn't look at the Swaybar. Its right next to them. I might order the sway bar linkage and try to do it myself.

 

If you opted for Monroe struts, I would also start questioning the quality of the other replacement components; especially the upper & lower control arms (and bushings) and the steering rack. Monroe parts are bottom of the barrel- they're junk. Part of the reason a factory truck was so good was the overall quality of the parts used to assemble it.

If you're replacing worn parts with parts that are junk to start with, you can't really expect them to be better or last anywhere near the life of the original high quality part.

Aftermarket manufactures rarely have to engineer their products to the standards that vehicle manufactures are required to in order to sell the vehicle in the first place. There is a GREAT video on YouTube where they test different brake pads, for example. I suggest looking that up and giving it a watch. The end result is that the OEM brake pads are much better than the others. That's just brake pads- something that's replaced on a fairly consistent basis. Now apply that to all the things you've replaced. And honestly, what you listed are the primary components which effect overall ride quality. If you replaced those all with sub par parts, you haven't done yourself any favors. YES, OEM parts or better are expensive, but as you are discovering, the saying is "buy once, cry once".

We all fall victim to trying to save a buck. For the last 20 years I have run original leaf springs with a 1.5" 3-leaf-AAL, and 1.5" lift shackles. Without explaining why I did, as part of a troubleshooting process I recently replaced the original leaf springs. I chose the cheapest springs I could find, for a few reasons, but primarily because I knew I would be canibalizing the pack to swap in my existing 3-leaf-AAL. So I didn't consider the quality of the pack to be important. I was VERY wrong. Even though I modified the pack, the primary three springs were SO different than the original factory springs it made me question every other component in the drive train. I eventually replaced the pack with Deaver 8 leaf J59s (a better than OEM product) to the tune of $900 bucks (just leaf spring + shipping cost, I do all my own work, so that's excluding labor install time, etc...).

So the real question is, are you willing to spend the relatively smaller amount up front to buy the good parts when they need to be replaced, or keep running the low quality parts and live with the low quality results?

 

I wasn't offered optional parts. Your comments aren't helping, can't afford to redo them on Social Security. Thank you

 

I 2nd Stearing rack bushings. Get a set of poly ones.

 

Take from my comments what you will, but it was merely an explanation of why you have replaced all those components and have not seen an improvement in ride quality.